Baby kale salad with strawberry-mint vinaigrette, avocado, goat cheese, and almonds. This vibrant, healthy salad is perfect for summer.
Ever since I turned in my manuscript for Let Them Eat Kale!, I…well…I haven’t eaten kale.
Not because I lost that loving feeling toward the leafy green, but because my kale tank was full and it hasn’t been until recently that I felt I needed to replenish it. So this weekend, I did a little house, dog, and cat-sitting, a little wine-ing (shocked?), and a lot of kale-ing.
I had strawberries that were ripe for the using and some fresh herbs, so I decided to make a strawberry-mint vinaigrette for the kale salad. The vinaigrette turned out sweet, tangy, and refreshing.
I used baby kale leaves because they require less prep than your standard curly kale. And I was busy wine-ing so I couldn’t be bothered to stop and massage the kale. No way, no how. Solution: baby kale.
I threw sunflower seeds, almonds, avocado, fresh chopped mint, and goat cheese into the mix and ended up with a flavorful, healthful, vibrant, spring salad. Ripe for the eating!
Baby Kale Salad with Strawberries, Goat Cheese, and Strawberry-Mint Vinaigrette
Ingredients
For the Strawberry-Mint Vinaigrette:
- 1 cup heaping ripe strawberries chopped
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar I used golden balsamic
- 3 leaves mint chopped
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup avocado oil
For the Salad:
- 5 ounces baby kale
- 2 cups ripe strawberries chopped
- ½ cup raw almonds
- 2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds
- 1 avocado peeled and diced
- 4 leaves mint chopped
- Goat cheese
Instructions
To Prepare the Strawberry-Mint Vinaigrette:
- In a small skillet, heat the balsamic vinegar and strawberries over medium-high heat and bring to a full boil. Allow mixture to boil and cook until strawberries are very soft, about 5 to 8 minutes. Mash the strawberries with a fork. Note: this will make your house smell like vinegar. But that's okay.
- Remove from heat, add the mint leaves, maple syrup, and salt and stir. Allow the mixture to cool slightly before transferring it to a cup or bowl and refrigerating until cool.
- Once cool, strain the strawberry pulp and mint leaves out of the mixture using a fine mesh strainer.
- Pour the mixture into a small blender, such as a Magic Bullet, along with the oil and blend until smooth (you can also whisk the strawberry vinegar and oil together by hand vigorously until combined). Set aside until ready to use.
To Prepare the Salad:
- Add all of the ingredients for the salad except for the goat cheese to a large serving bowl. Toss in desired amount of dressing (you will not need all of the dressing). Serve salad with goat chevre.
I happen to have all these things in my fridge right now!
Off I go!
YAYYYYYY for beebies and uber yummy kale salads!! I seriously die over every salad you create. Da salad ka-weeeeeennn!
Haha! I want to squeeze you right now!
So this is pretty much the prettiest kale salad that I ever did see! And that totally counts where the pink factor is concerned. I want to dunk my face in this and not come up until the bowl is clean.
Haha! You would certainly be welcome to my shower with this salad in hand! It looks amazing! I love a good kale salad with fresh fruit. And that vinaigrette sounds divine! I’ll have to go check out your cookbook because you can never have enough kale…well, you caaaan but you know what I mean!
I do enjoy baby kale for the same reasons; it’s just so much easier to use!
I’m going to make that dressing just so I can drink it! Yum!
I get so in to having my veggies that I forget sometimes to add fruit to my salad! This sounds so perfect for these spring days!
I love everything about this salad – it is beautiful! The dressing sounds amazing – can’t wait to try!